Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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ABOVE: Flaming rivers of gasoline pour over the hangar deck, trapping men aft . . . BELOW: Firefighters duck, as an other big explosion goes up . . . The flying airplane engine narrowly missed the captain when it fell .1

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.,fv.,,..- 1 N,- z hi-i lllsl lieavv stiike Xsteiu was the light earrici lffllrnrll. iilnxnl was thi- Nw: fi.wi11Ji'. Xt .itll iwune a radio niessage trout this lliuii-or-kg l nenu plane closing on you from .tl.i.til , . taptatn tQi-tires ipiivlxlv asked lillf on the iulerphone il' thu ti.i.l -'K1 ntavl with the enemy plane. 'llhe answer was in-e.itivi'. lihev had l-een seareliing for at Jap just reported tw.-lip nules awav. near tuiothcr task group. in addition to their ri-pillar si-arvii. lt was later lvelieved that the enemy plane ahead had liven mistakenly identilied as friendly on .ill radars in the liorniationg the I!lIl!l'Ul'A' had spotted it vis- xiallv .tr il llglslleil iltlo at elolltl. 'lihe iaptain alerted all lookouts and gun control stations, iantioning them lo heed particularly the sector ahead where ii l-tank of clouds lloated two thousand feet in the air and a thousand yards away from the ship. The watch on the hridge doul-led its vigilance. tioindr. Hale. the :Xir Ollicer. had just received a report tironi l.t. Stalcup on the hangar deck: Everything is ready to ga here. and Lt. Fred Harris. the Flight Deck Ullieer. was winding up the seventh plane of the launch as the lap- anese. a twin-engined Judy. hurtled from the clouds on a low, level. lionihing run. The attack developed so suddenly o A - that even the ali-rterl vvat1'lii-rsou thi- lrridpxe flirt not see the plane as it Iltlshi-d in. though the liorward twin live-inch mounts and a liorty quail on the island took it under fire lielatedly, lfonidr. Jnrika, the navigator, saw two lionihs spin down. as the ,lap hardly lilly feet ahove the deek-ee pulled up and elinllved away. Ili- was shot down a few moments later hy lioindr. l'arker. leader of Air Group Five. The lirsl hornh that struck, a Sllll-pound armor-piercer, exploded on the hangar deck at frame 75 and hlasted a great hole in the fl-inch arrnor plate. setting fire to the ,flassed and armed planes. The second lvomh struck aft, crashing: through two decks and exploding on the third. near the chief petty olliceris quarters, The Helldiver just taking off was hlown over on its haekg its pilot climhed out and made his way to the side. A column of black smoke poured from the forward eleva- tor well, and as Captain Gehres regained his feet from the explosions a huge Sheet of flame was erupting from the for- ward starboard edge of the hangar deck. Thinking the fire was forward, he quickly slowed speed to sixteen knots and turned to Starboard. This placed the wind on the port side, keeping the fire away from the heavily armed planes aft. Pilots, aircrewmen. plane captains. were scrambling wild- ' ,N 'wvidif ' .1 ,, 'pdfv-at '- .Sirly miilrns from Japan , o A' ' Cf.. .UH--an

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sinner- -' lx for the side as their 'lanes caught hre. llro tellers. still l . l spinning. and exploding anuuunitton, made theirs a deadly iournex. lfroni the bridge there was no indication as yet that there had been a hit aft. ln llx control.t'ou1dr.llalerepealled . , A . , vw. iv. again and again: ,lettison the planes with the liny inns first ,... H 'lihose were the last words that eaine oier the speakers. Now a mighty column ol' smoke rose from the stern ol' the ship and the captain saw there had been a hit aft. Swiftly he turned the ship with full left rudder into the wind and again came up to standard speed. bringing the wind broad on the starboard bow. to keep the tire from the undamaged part of the ship. lly this maneuver. during the next two hours. it was possible for the survivors to organize fire-fighting parties and work aft from bases in the unharmed focsll to bring the fires under control. l.iltle more than a minute passed before the sheets of fire spread over the tive bombers. fourteen torpedo planes and twelve fighters. all heavily armed. on the flight and hangar decks. Then a terrific series of explosions commenced, the violence of which can only he imagined. The inferno was increased by the detonations of ready ammunition lockers on the topside. filled with rockets, with shells for five-inch. forty mm., twenty mm., and fifty-cal. machine guns. Men died by the scores on the flight and hangar decks, or were trapped in CIC and the crowded gallery deck work- shops. The entire gallery deck, sandwiched between flight and hangar decks. was a death trap. Ofhces and berthing compartments on the second and third decks were torn hy an vw up-nu n unnnnur-ul ...il-.sr-.vnu explosions and swept by line that spread from the hangar deck, ther thirty tons of high explosive were on the planes alone and countless other tons were in the lockers and ready magazines. Smoke began to pour into the engine rooms below and men donned gas masks or rescue breathing equipment. Num- ber Two l'llI'L'l'OOlll., its uptakes blasted by explosions, went out of commission, the fires under its boilers snuflned out by the first blasts. All communications on the ship were lost except for one line between the bridge and steering control aft, thence to main engine control. As long as quartermaster Davis, and his crew-William Hamil and 'lSmoky', Cud- brantzen, manned the steering control room the captain could give orders to the engines. Comdr. Hale was dispatched from his station in fly con- trol to take charge of fire-fighting on the hangar and flight decks. flomdr Taylor was still groping through smoke across shattered decks, trying to make his way to the bridge. The gallant destroyer Miller came recklessly alongside from the screen, bringing her puny fire hoses to bear on the great conflagration that raged on the hangar deck aft, where 440,- 000 gallons of aviation gasoline were contributing to the fires. On the focsll Fire Marshal Stanley Graham yelled to the men who were making their way clear from the smoky, hlazing, compartments: uBoys, we got pressure on the lines. we got hoses, letls get in there and save herl' In a few min- utes a dozen hoses were working aft on the flight and hangar decks, into the flames. Men with hre axes chopped holes in the flight dork planking to let water into blazing gallery Santa Fe moves in., fre hoses ready, as flames move closer to men trapped on hangar deck